"the money was successfully hidden.”
Former Met Police officer Shareen Kashif received a suspended sentence after hiding her corrupt policeman husband’s shoebox of ‘drug money’ while their house was being raided by officers.
The 30-year-old also knew that her husband, PC Kashif Mahmood, was part of an organised crime group.
Whilst in uniform and marked police cars, Mahmood stopped known drug dealers under the pretence of issuing stop and search warrants.
He would then confiscate large amounts of money without issuing an arrest or paperwork.
Mahmood later became a person of interest after he targeted a drug dealer who was being watched by another policing unit.
Mahmood pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire criminal property and misconduct in a public office.
In May 2021, he was jailed for eight years.
Southwark Crown Court heard that on April 28, 2020, police executed a search warrant at the couple’s home in Harlow, Essex.
Kashif, who has a two-year-old child with Mahmood, stated that she only became aware of her husband’s criminality in the days leading up to the raid and was “angry” at his behaviour.
After police arrived, Mahmood told her to move a box from the wardrobe and hide it somewhere else.
Kashif, a Met Police officer at the time, hid it under the bed and the sum of its contents remain unknown.
But she was arrested after an Encrochat message was deciphered and it referenced her role.
The message was sent to a man in Dubai and it read:
“When they raided his house, his wife managed to hide the paper. They took him, his phone and laptop.”
Prosecutors said ‘paper’ was a reference to the concealed money.
When interviewed under caution, Kashif acknowledged it was a reference that she understood.
At Southwark Crown Court in September 2020, the Met Police officer pleaded guilty to concealing criminal property.
A misconduct hearing led to dismissal without notice from her role within the Met.
Met’s Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said at the conclusion of the hearing:
“PC Kashif has knowingly and intentionally committed the offence of concealing criminal property.”
“In behaving as she did, PC Kashif may have sought to benefit from the proceeds of crime and additionally did seek to compromise the criminal investigation into her husband’s actions.
“Secondly, by her involvement in concealing the proceeds of crime which were obtained by a police officer (her husband) abusing his trust and his position, she has without question harmed public confidence in and the reputation of the Metropolitan Police Service.”
Prosecutor Tom Williams said Mahmood had seized at least £850,000 in drug money whilst working for the crime group and that as much as £100,000 could have been hidden in the shoebox.
Mr Williams said: “Everyone in that chain knew that money needed hiding and the money was successfully hidden.”
Describing it as a “momentary act”, Kashif’s defence lawyer Allan Compton QC said:
“She was acting under the direction of her husband, it was at his request that she hid the box.”
Judge Tomlinson said: “The essence of it, is that just as your husband knew it was only a matter of time before the police came knocking at the door, so were you.
“In fact, you were very angry with him for what he had been up to.
“The sum of money is unknown. As it was the size of the shoebox, I agree with the prosecution that it could not have been less than £10,000 and no more than £100,000.”
He said that whilst her role had a “limited function”, he rejected the assumption that she was not influenced by personal gain.
Kashif, formerly of the Met’s Central East Command Unit, received a 21 month suspended sentence and must do 150 hours of unpaid work.
Both she and her husband have also been added to the College of Policing’s ‘Barred List’.
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